You could have heard a pin drop for large parts of Cambridge United's 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough's youngsters at the Cambs Glass Stadium on Tuesday night.

That was because the Checkatrade Trophy tie was played out in front of the club's record low home crowd as a Football League club, with just 693 people in attendance.

But playing in front of crowds smaller than that away from home was not too uncommon during United's nine-year stay in the Conference Premier between 2005 and 2014.

426

When the U's visited Dorchester for an FA Trophy tie on December 17, 2005, 426 people saw them knocked out with a 3-2 defeat despite goals from Michael Morrison and David Bridges.

Fast forward to April 5, 2008 and their trip to Droylsden in the league drew a crowd of 634 as they triumphed 2-0 thanks to efforts from Ben Farrell and Mark Beesley.

362

In 2010, United competed in front of less than 600 people on three occasions, with the lowlight being a 2-0 league defeat at Hayes & Yeading. There were just 362 inside the ground that day as the U's made it their longest goal drought for 25 years.

Happier times followed at Hayes & Yeading when they triumphed 6-2 in the FA Cup, fourth qualifying round on October 29, 2011. A crowd of 452 witnessed what was the visitors' biggest away win since 1994 and their biggest FA Cup victory since 1969 thanks to Ashley Carew's brace and goals from Luke Berry, Harrison Dunk, Jordan Patrick and Ryan Charles.

336

Later that season, on April 7, 2012, the lowest crowd for a United first-team game since records were kept – 336 – had to endure a drab 0-0 draw, again at Hayes & Yeading. Certainly all the drama was on the Thames that day – it was the same afternoon Cambridge took advantage of Oxford breaking an oar to win the Boat Race after Trenton Oldfield had entered the water and stopped the race as he protested against class elitism.

Other extremely low attendances came at the likes of Billericay, Alfreton, Tamworth, Southport and Hyde, before United got themselves back into the League in 2014.

And if you thought Tuesday night's match against Middlesbrough lacked atmosphere, there were 43 less fans rattling around inside the Abbey on the opening day of the 1948/49 campaign. The lowest recorded crowd of 650 saw the team, in their Abbey United days, go down 4-2 to Symington's, Market Harborough in the United Counties League.